While director of MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research, Jack Rockart “showed that research doesn’t have to be narrow and esoteric, and that business school research can actually influence the practice of business,” says Guest Columnist Thomas H. Davenport. “Those of us in IT should note his passing and be thankful for his existence and his ideas.”

Carnegie Mellon robotics expert and author Illah R. Nourbakhsh warns that robots increasingly will compete with humans in the labor market, likely pushing more well-educated people into the lower middle class.

MIT just launched a new Initiative for the Digital Economy to systematically address the impact of digital technologies on business, the economy and society, Guest Columnist Irving Wladawsky-Berger writes. Digital technologies are advancing rapidly, but organizations and skills are evolving at a much slower pace. Exponential improvements in artificial intelligence, robotics, networks, analytics, and digitization will shape more of the economy, potentially displacing human workers in the process. “We are transitioning to a digital economy whose vast implications are not well understood,” he says.

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